joining us now is lieutenant colonel travis walters, the public affairs officer of the texas military department. it's good to have you with us, sir. we know you'll be very busy so let's get to it. what are you dealing with on the ground? >> on the ground right now, conditions are changing hourly so i just got off the phone with a ground commander who is in south houston saying that roads that were passable an hour ago are not passable now, so our soldiers and airmen that are currently engaged, this is about 3,000, going up to about 12,000, as you said, are working their way through that to save lives and help their fellow texans. >> you are dealing in an area that has close to four feet of rain, so you're in one of the hardest hit areas, and obviously whether the bayou's capacity is up to snuff is a more sensitive issue there. what are you dealing with in terms of need? how many calls? how many potential rescues, how big a grid? >> well, we have about 3,000 people deployed for this mission right now, going to add another 1,000 today, of course that number will continue to increase th

lieutenant colonel travis walter of the texas national guard. >> that was incredible. are american heroes, the guardsmen, the national guard, the coast guard, the military people have gone in, and the citizens, not just of texas, but from around the country, you know, stephanie, they have been sending these urban search and rescue teams from every city in america, they go in with their own food and water ready to go for days at end. yesterday, i saw an amazing image posted on twitter of people lined up in houston, not -- >> i love that image. >> they were there to volunteer. lineups of people ready to volunteer. this is the best of it. >> we spent a lot of time arguing the last eight months about putting country first. these people put country, put humanity first, no politics in texas today. let's bring back nbc's kerry sanders, at beaumont hospital, witnessing the evacuation. kerry, give us an update. >> reporter: i can tell you things are running very orderly here. let's review why they're evacuating the hospital. it is not because they don't have electricity. it is

joining us is lieutenant colonel travis walters. thank you very much for being with us. what's the situation that you're grappling with this morning on the ground? >> good morning. i tell you, i am proud to be a texan this morning. our national guardsmen are still conducting rescue operations by boat, but plane and by high water vehicle. they are motivated and inspired by the work that they are doing, and it is giving them tireless energy to do it. we're seeing first responders that we are supporting on the ground that are all of us extremely focused on the task at hand. there is no time for anything less than maximum cooperation, and that's what we're seeing right now. >> colonel, do you have any sense from your guys on the ground how many people are still trapped and stranded in their hom homes? >> we don't have a firm estimate. but we are beginning as more resources pour in, to do more methodical operations, move into a neighborhood, check the entire neighborhood, make sure it's clear of people so we save lives and then move on to the next place. that's what we're ded

welker at the white house for us, i want to thank all of you and bring in lieutenant colonel travis walters from the texas national guard. he comes to us from austin, texas, which is where the president will travel next. if the president came to you and said how are things going what would you tell him? >> -- evacuation operations as well as sheltering folks. we are being mobilized for the entire national guard, governor did that yesterday, it is all hands on deck here. >> we missed just the very top, we had a technical problem, so i'm not sure if you answered this, but do you have a good sense how many people are out there still waiting to be rescued? >> we do not have an exact number of that, of course. but we are still conducting operations, we're still rescuing people, the situation is very fluid on the ground. just spoke with some commanders in south houston later -- earlier today. and they expressed that sometimes a road will be passable one hour and the next hour it won't be. we're working with that, trying to get to people as quickly as possible, we'll stay there until the job is do